The Sprite

Part 15

"You WHAT???"

"Told him to leave by noon," Turlock repeated, calmly filling his pipe again. "Honestly, Neena, I don’t know what you’re so upset about."

"You know damn well what I’m upset about!" she shrieked, fluttering angrily off the pillow. She’d been a little worried when Turlock had come home, but had waited patiently for him to put away his sword and sit on the porch before asking him what had happened.

"Now, don’t get all worked up, lass…"

"Too late!" she snapped. "I’m past worked up! How could you DO this to me? I didn’t want you to…well, I never asked you to…and you just…DAMMIT!"

"Watch your mouth, now," came Turlock’s stern warning. "It’s not like I can’t still spank your bottom for ya like I do the children." Neena’s mouth opened and snapped shut angrily, not sure if challenging this point was wise. Turlock’s puffed a bit, staring out into the woods before adding, "Now, then, I just told the boy he ought to leave. I made no mention of telling him not to see you."

"You…you didn’t?"

"No, I didn’t."

"So…so he’s waiting out there?"

"I don’t know what he’s doing, but if he’s wise, he’s packin’ up."

Neena took a second to think, then fluttered up and out into the woods. "I’ll be back later!" she hollered, disappearing into the underbrush.

Turlock puffed away for a moment, then spoke again. "Oh, now don’t give me that look. I simply put the gears in motion; I’ve no control over where the two of them take things."

A flutter of wings brought Naomi McBaene from the doorway of their home out to stand on her husband’s knee, scolding him with her tiny eyes. She was a bit taller than Neena and much darker, but still had the same lithe sprite body. "Turlock," she sighed, twiddling absently with the end of her long braid, "this just isn’t SAFE. Neena might get hurt by this fairy hunter. And how did you know I was looking at you? Your back was to me!"

"Neena can take care of herself," he replied. "And this fairy hunter is quite taken with her, it seems. He’s got room in his head for reason and that’s all that matters. I’m not out to take the head off a man that’s puttin’ his brain to use. Let her talk to him and we’ll see." He grinned before adding, "And I know ye, wife. O'course you were standing back there…sure as Neena's out there tryin' to find out what's in her lad's head, you're back there trying to figure out what's in mine." He paused, taking another draw on the pipe. "Sprite curiosity is a hard thing to master, eh?"

Naomi sighed again, fluttering up to fairy kiss her husband on the nose. Turlock, an old pro at sprite magic, smiled blissfully, but didn’t seem to be as affected as any other human might have been. "You," she said, a tinkling laugh in her voice, "are turning into a meddling old matchmaker."

"And you," he replied, tweaking her little rear end, "are stoking up me flame!" The tweak made her give a little gasp, then suddenly grow in midair and land on his lap, about 4 feet tall.

"For SHAME, Turlock!" she gasped, in mock horror, throwing her arms about his neck. "The CHILDREN…!"

"The children got here this way, my little sprite," he said, standing and lifting her in his arms with a smirk. "Don’t be changing the subject. I’ve a fire that needs tending to." She squealed in delight as he buried his face in her bosom and carried her inside.

Meanwhile, Neena’s immediate thoughts were much cleaner, at least for the time being. What am I gonna SAY to him?, she thought. I'm definitely NOT apologizing, but…well, SHOULD I say anything to him? Maybe I’ll just give him his gem back and he'll be sorry about everything. Or just ask for my amulet back and act like I don't care. That oughta be good enough to make him explain himself.

She found him back at camp angrily throwing things into his pack. She noted, with some irritation, that he still had all his gems and traps with him. "About time you gave up," she said. "Where's my amulet?"

He straightened up a for a moment, then kept packing. "You shut up," he said seriously. "You've caused me enough grief this trip."

"Hey, nobody told you to come out here and start working my section of the woods!" she shrugged.

"And nobody told you to cast spells on me to make me fall for you!" he retorted.

She nearly laughed. "Spells on you? Don't flatter yourself! I have FAR better things to do with my magic than waste it on you!"

To her surprise, he turned and looked right at her. She could tell he'd been worried, but the anger and frustration in his eyes was far more obvious. "Where the hell have you been all day? No, screw that…I don't care! Better question…why didn't you STAY where you were all day? For that matter, why didn't you stay there in the FIRST place and left me and my friends the hell alone?"

Neena's mouth opened, closed and then unloaded. "Don't you EVEN give me that attitude like it's all MY fault you've made a bad career choice! I didn't come to YOUR world and start capturing you and YOUR pals, did I? Not that a human is WORTH any money on the open market," she added, for his benefit. "Just because you can't hold down a real human job doesn't mean you can just pick on the weak and…" Before she could get another word out, her descended upon her in a whirl of angry motion, snatched her up and practically threw her into a simple cage.

"THERE!" he roared. "Now shut the HELL UP! If you say one more word, I SWEAR I'll tear your wings right outta your back!"

For once, Neena did just that.

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